Tuesday, September 11, 2007

CA wines that AGE (not including Cab) pt. II: Look for the Bobcat

Rarely will you find a CA winery whose wines consistently show the sense of style, restraint, elegance and balance of the wines of Santa Cruz Mountain Vineyard winery. As far as I'm concerned, Jeff Emery is fashioning some of the most interesting wines in all of the Golden State. Some of these include Durif (Petite Syrah), Tempranillo, Cabernet and Pinot Noir. There is also acreage devoted to a few different Portuguese grape varieties. One thing that all of these wines share is an incredibly reasonable alcohol content - 12.5%. Another common trait is the ageability of these wines: there are library offerings dating back to the '70's, and I have heard that many of these bottlings are absolutely 25+ year wines. Decide for yourself, though. Try a bottle (might I suggest the Durif or Estate PN), and let me know what you think.